Will Etkin

Here is my mini interview with Will and the photos of Korean dishes that he made! He loves to cook  for his family and friends. He reminds me of me during my University period. I always used to cook for my friends and family, too!  I remember 1 funny story in his email. One day he made Korean food  for his friends. One of his friends did not want to use Korean metal chopsticks because they were too heavy to handle for her. I thought it was a cute story!

1. What is your name and where do you live?
Hi everyone! My name is Will Etkin, and I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Both my parents moved here from New York before I was born.

“In my photo I’m eating some of my kimchi! Sometimes I like to eat the spicy kimchi without any rice, just as a snack!”

2. What do you do and how many family members do you have ?
Right now I’m a student in University and I live with my father and my older brother. But I have a few friends that are really close to me that I like to call family members, so I think that brings the number up from three to about six. :) My friends and I always have adventures shopping at Korean and Japanese grocery stores. And then when we’re done we always come home and cook. It’s a lot of fun!

3. How often do you cook Korean food following my recipes?
I use your recipes every week at least twice. Sometimes three or more times! There was this one week where all I ate was Korean food. It was a very good week, but afterwards I started to miss Japanese food and Italian food.

4. What are your favorite Korean dishes? Choose 3, please!
My favorite Korean dishes are Doeji Bulgogi, Oinaengguk, And anything with Kimchi involved. I always end up making Kimchi Chigae and Kimchi Jeon. Then I’m sad because I’ve run out of kimchi. But it’s never too bad, because I know I can always just make a new batch during the weekend! When I made Kimchi with my friend Lily, we split it in half so I could take some home too. When I got home, I had to add more hot pepper flakes to mine because I like really spicy kimchi.

doeji bulgogi (spicy stir-fried pork) : Will says, “It tastes almost exactly like I remember it from the Korean Restaurant on the campus of my university.”

kimchi

Kimchi

radish kimchi (kkaktugi)

steamed egg side dish (gyeranjjim)

kimchi stew

vegetable pancake

rice and 3 kinds of side dishes (kimchi, steamed eggs, vegetable pancake)

oinaengchae (cold cucumber soup)

5. What’s your best Korean dish, the one that everybody compliments you on when you make it?
I have two. Everyone loves my Hoddeok. I don’t know if that’s really a dish though, it’s more of a dessert/snack. All of my friends also love my Kimchi Chigae. My father doesn’t like as much as my friends. He says that the kimchi is too spicy for him.

hotteok (sweet pancakes with brown sugar syrup filling)